"Known as the Graves Supercomplication, the unique timepiece possessed 24 complications—or mechanical features in addition to timekeeping—including a different chronological function for each hour of the day, a chart of the nighttime sky over New York City complete with the magnitudes of the stars and the Milky Way, and a minute repeater that played the same melody heard in London's Big Ben.

The storied watch was the most ingeniously complicated mechanical watch ever created and required five years to design and build. Off the market for 66 years, it was also the ultimate prize in a 30-year collecting duel between Graves and the American automaker James Ward Packard, who spent a good part of the early 20th century attempting to acquire the most extraordinary timepiece with the greatest possible number of complications ever made. Both men wanted the best—and for that they chose Patek Philippe."

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

This is our photograph of the Falkirk Wheel, Lime Rd, Falkirk, FK1 4RS, United Kingdom, +44 1324 619888, which is located about halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and is the world's first, only and largest rotating boat lift.

The following photographs show how the Falkirk Wheel looks in operation at various stages of hoisting the passenger boat you see in the above picture from the Forth and Clyde Canal up to the Union Canal 35 meters (115 feet) above it. Yes, one can purchase a ticket to be in the boat and be uplifted by the Falkirk Wheel.